


the law of serendipity

by maggiesbombshell



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, F/F, Human!Catra, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kind of a slowburn, Modern AU, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Strangers to Lovers, They're in their early 20s, adora is a receptionist for some corporation, adora is basically a jock, catra swears a lot, catra works a boring desk job for a retail company and hates it, good things come out of something bad, kind of a healing fic, kind of ib dead to me on netflix but with less manslaughter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2020-06-23 22:16:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19710559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maggiesbombshell/pseuds/maggiesbombshell
Summary: "The Law of Serendipity, or The Seventeenth Law of the Universe, states that the universe bends in our direction by providing us with seemingly accidental and unexpected fortuitous circumstances which we call good luck."Except Catra didn't consider meeting Adora good luck. But over time, her view changes. As well as Adora's.





	1. chapter one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first time catra and adora see each other, and the first time they actually talk.

The first time Catra sees Adora she doesn't _really_ pay her any mind.

Catra's out running because she hadn't really done it in a while. Work pretty much consumes her life nowadays, so she either doesn't have the time to do anything else or she just doesn't have the motivation. Though she later on got promoted and along with that came with getting most weekends off. Scorpia insisted on her going out for a run when she can because her speed was something she used to take pride in. 

Catra thinks that she just got sick of seeing her wallow around their apartment.

Anyways, she starts out with a light jog on the sidewalk outside of her apartment complex. A young woman with light blonde hair comes up from behind her and passes her, smiling at her before continuing on.

They're both heading in the same general direction, Catra not too far behind the young woman. Catra's even almost matching her speed. Yet she's so _sweaty_ for some reason. She can feel strands of her hair sticking to her forehead and can only imagine that she looks rough as hell. And she's not even that tired for god's sake. This is the very reason why Catra hates the spring and summertime.

Catra turns around to go back to her apartment after hitting about two and a half miles. It's almost noon and she still hasn't had any coffee and that's a major problem. Her other roommate, Entrapta, actually offered to make her a coffee machine but her and Scorpia came to the conclusion that it's safer to let Catra go out and buy overpriced coffee everyday.

She leaves out as soon as she gets back to the complex. Catra stops before exiting the complexes entrance, just to see the same young woman on the side walk across the street, running past the building. She looks more closely at the blonde, her hair in a ponytail, not a single hair out of place. And her thigh muscles flexing while she runs.

Catra rolls her eyes and groans. How is it that she's _still_ running and looks like _that,_ while when Catra was running she probably looked like a fucking heroin addict. 

A couple seconds later, the car behind Catra honks at her and she honks back, and finally pulls out of the complex.

Catra sees the blonde the next day as well and makes sure that she runs faster than her this time.

Adora's aimlessly scrolling through TV channels when her roommate Bow plops down on the sofa next to her.

Bow clasps his hand together. "Guess what?"

"What?" Her eyes don't leave the TV.

" _We"_ , he points to her, Glimmer-who's in the kitchen, as well as himself. "have been invited to a party."

To say that Bow loves parties is an understatement. Adora literally met Bow at one in high school.

"Who's is it?" She asks.

"Glimmer's co-worker. It's at some fancy bar downtown."

Adora clicks on a random channel. "You don't even know her co-workers. Seems to me like you're looking for an excuse to get drunk."

Bow scoffs. "Um, no. We are going to the bar for a casual hang out since we're all off of work."

Adora gives him a look. "You said that it's a party."

"I mean, it basically is! But it's more on the _casual_ side. And maybe we'll have a drink or two, but it won't get out of hand. I like to call it, _adulting_." Bow adds to convince Adora.

"Whatever." Adora sighs. "It doesn't matter, you know I don't drink, Bow."

Bow gives in. "Well, I tried. Are you just gonna sit around in the empty apartment while we're gone?"

Adora shrugs her shoulders. "When's the party?"

"Next Friday."

_It's Sunday._

"I'll figure something out."

Adora's never been much of a party person. She went to a few house parties in high school but always ended up leaving early. And the last one she went to didn't end very well at all. She's never drank or done any drugs either, even though she's past the legal age. Others might think it's lame but she likes to think that it's better safe than sorry.

* * *

The next morning before work, Adora drives to the coffee shop across the street from her apartment. She went to sleep kinda late last night and she knows that she won't be able to handle whiny customers over the phone without any caffeine in her system. 

She orders an Americano to go, and while she's waiting for her order she notices a familiar brunette sitting at a table across from her. But she can't remember where she's seen her. 

Then it dawns on her. _Yesterday, on her five mile run-walk._

She doesn't have to be at work for a little while, although she arrives early every morning. But she wants to go say hello to brunette she's seen around. Adora takes her coffee once it's finished and smiles at the barista. She hesitantly walks over to the table.

"Hi!" Adora practically chirps.

Catra looks up at her immediately. 

_Oh fuck me._ She thought, annoyed.

"Hi..." She trails off.

"I'm Adora." The young woman says, holding her hand out for her to shake.

Catra lightly shakes her hand. "Catra."

"I've saw you... _twice_ over the weekend while I was going for a run." Adora sits in the chair across from her.

"Yeah." Catra taps her nails on the table.

"So, I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself. And if you're in the same area again, maybe we can go on a run together. You're pretty fast y'know."

Catra laughs. "Is this how you flirt?" Catra clears her throat. "Hi, I'm _Adora_ , we should go running together. You're pretty fast." Catra mocks her and continues to laugh.

Adora's cheeks flush. "No...I wasn't flirting at all! Anyways, here." She pulls a post-it note out of the side pocket of her purse, along with a ballpoint pen.

_Who brings an entire package of post-it notes to a coffee shop..._

Adora scribbles down a number and slides it to Catra. "I should head to work, but text me."

"You're weird Adora."

"I know. But... text me? No pressure. There's a few good parks in the area we can run around."

Catra rolls her eyes, a small smirk on her face. " _Maybe_. But don't be weird, and try not to stalk me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!! i'm excited to continue this story. leave feedback as well, i really appreciate it <33


	2. chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> catra decides to text adora.

Catra certainly didn't expect to see _Adora_ at the coffee shop. Let alone Adora come up and talk to her.

They literally saw each other on the streets two times, but the blonde woman clearly thinks that it's an opportunity to start a new friendship. 

"Hey Wildcat! How was your day?" Scorpia asks as soon as she enters their apartment.

Catra tosses her bag onto the kitchen counter and throws herself onto the couch. "Boring, yet weird at the same time."

"Ooh, can I know about the weird part?" 

Catra turns on their TV. "I saw this girl when I went running-like you suggested, and I saw her again at the coffee shop down the street. The weird part is, is that she came up to where I was sitting, sat down, talked to me, and gave me her number."

Scorpia is silent for a moment before responding. "That isn't really weird, that's a good thing! Have you texted her?"

"No. Why would I do that?"

Scorpia sits next to her. "Um, a pretty girl just gave you her number and clearly wants to talk to you. I don't think that there is a better reason for you to text her."

"How do you know that she's pretty?"

Scorpia shrugs. "I just guessed. Is she?"

"I don't know!" Catra throws her hands up in the air.

"Did she say anything else?"

"She said we should go running together, and that I'm fast."

Scorpia squeals. "She totally sees something in you!"

"She's talked to me once-"

"Catra, she was totally flirting with you. What's her name?"

"Adora." Catra picks at her nails.

"You need to text _Adora,_ and why? Because this could be a good relationship, or friendship! At least think about it."

"Fine." 

Scorpia's been trying to get Catra out of the apartment more nowadays, because she's apparently 'worried about her'. She claims that Catra locking herself in her room and sleeping all day isn't healthy.

The truth is, she's been in a funk since she graduated high school. At first it wasn't that bad. But it just grew over time and she honestly doesn't know why.

Sure, maybe going up to someone you've only seen on the sidewalk and giving them your number is weird. But who doesn't love making new friends? 

Glimmer said that giving a random girl your number is dangerous because they could secretly be a psychopath or something. (Adora obviously hopes that Catra isn't one.) But she didn't even plan on giving Catra her phone number. It just kinda...happened. 

When Adora told Bow, he said that taking risks is good and that this could turn into something good. (If Catra ever texts her.) 

Glimmer responded with, "Taking a risk in this case could lead to Adora's death."

She thinks Glimmer's being overly dramatic.

Besides, Adora doesn't get very many opportunities to meet people her age. Most of the people she works with are old misogynistic white men that don't take her seriously. Glimmer and Bow suggest that she should just go hang out at the bar with them, but she can't. 

* * *

A few days pass by, and it's early Thursday morning now. 

Adora hasn't heard from Catra either.

Maybe she came on too strong? She doesn't know.

Adora woke up at one in the morning for some reason, and now she can't seem to go back to sleep. So, she's resorted to staring at her ceiling, thinking about life. She closes her eyes, trying to fall asleep again, but her phone buzzes.

She groans and unplugs it from it's charger, picking it up off of her nightstand.

**Unknown number:** hey adora

Catra actually fell asleep at a reasonable time. But then she hears a bunch of loud noises coming from the other room.

 _Entrapta._ She's probably messing around with one of her inventions again. 

Catra's is almost sure that she never sleeps. 

"ENTRAPTA! TURN THAT SHIT OFF!" She screams, and then puts a pillow over her face.

"Sorry!" Entrapta yells back.

Looks like she's not going back to sleep.

_Why can't I be a heavy sleeper like Scorpia..._

Catra tries to scroll through a couple social media apps, but she finds herself constantly refreshing to see nobody has posted anything because it's one am. A couple minutes later she shuts her phone off and sets it down next to her. 

Catra hesitates before throwing the blanket off of herself, and picking a pair of black pants off of the floor that she wore on Monday. She takes a folded up post-it note out of the side pocket.

She gets back in her bed and types the phone number in the messaging app. She sends the first thing that comes to mind.

**Catra:** hey adora

 **Catra:** it's me, catra. the girl u stalked and gave ur number

Adora smiles at her phone.

**Adora:** hi

 **Adora:** why are you awake at this hour?

 **Catra:** i could literally ask you same thing

 **Catra:** but my roommate, entrapta is like a crazy science genius or whatever and invents a bunch of stuff. one of them started making a bunch of loud noises and i woke up. 

**Adora:** cool, i just randomly woke up

 **Catra:** nice

 **Adora:** wanna play a game?

 **Catra:** depends

 **Catra:** what game

 **Adora:** ok so, I ask you a question, and then you ask me a question, but we both have to answer the question we asked.

 **Catra:** k

 **Catra:** you first

 **Adora:** how old are you?

 **Catra:** 22

 **Adora:** same

 **Catra:** what's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done

 **Adora** : on my 8th bday my mom took me to go horseback riding because i loved horses, but i was lowkey scared of them. so my mom put me on the horse but i freaked out and peed on the horse

 **Catra:** omg... you peed on the horse???

 **Adora:** yes

 **Catra:** poor horse

 **Catra:** idrk what my most embarrassing moment is, but once my mom was supposed to pick me up from school, but i got into the wrong car

 **Catra:** it was my teacher's.

 **Adora:** yikes

They text for about two more hours, and Catra and Adora learn a lot about each other. Like how Catra used to pretend to be a cat when she was little, or Adora's mild obsession with swords.

**Adora:** I have work in 2 hours so i should probably go to sleep...

 **Catra:** i have to get up in 3 hrs so same

 **Adora:** goodnight, catra

 **Catra:** goodnight adora

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!! your feedback is really appreciated.


	3. chapter three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora thinks about the last party she went to, catra has a bad work day.

_There's loud music and blaring lights everywhere, and a lot of people. Or at least a larger amount of people compared to the last house party she went to._

_Some football player that went to school with her is throwing a big blowout because they're all going to college soon. Adora didn't really want to go at first but Bow convinced her to, claiming it's their 'last high school partying experience'._

_But she doesn't think that partying really suits her. (Or maybe it was because she'd never really been to one because her parents didn't allow her to.) The only house parties that she had ever been to, were ones in elementary schools where everyone got a party hat, and complimentary gift bags. Although she did sneak out on a Saturday night with Glimmer once. But it was really just a small gathering at their friend Perfuma's house. It was also way calmer than this. Then again, everyone was getting high. (Except for herself of course.)_

_At this party, everyone's drinking and taking shots. Her parents would literally kill her if they found out that she'd been drinking._

_Her 'partying experience' isn't exactly going as planned. So she calls her mom, asking if she can pick her up. Her mom says that it shouldn't be a problem since she's picking her dad up from a late shift._

_That's the last thing she remembers._

_The next time she opens her eyes, she's in a white room. Adora rubs her forehead and pokes at something attached to her nose. She slowly forces herself to sit up, she looks down to see that it's a breathing tube. She looks around her and what she was lying on, to find out that she's in a hospital room._

_"Mom? Dad?" She says in a strained voice._

_A nurse walks in the room and then call out into the hall, "She's awake!"_

_A doctor comes rushing in along with the nurse. "How are you feeling?" The nurse asks._

_Adora blinks a couple of times. "I- my chest is a little sore. But other than that I think I'm okay. What happened? Where are my parents?"_

_The nurse's face falls and turns into a sympathetic look._

"Adora? You sure you don't wanna come with us?" Bow says, snapping Adora out of what she was thinking about. He grabs the keys off of the counter.

"Yeah, we don't wanna just leave you here alone on a Friday night." Glimmer adds.

Adora sighs.

_"You were in a car accident. You were really hurt, and you were in a coma for about two weeks." The doctor explains._

_Adora pauses and tries to think. "I remember getting in a car, I think my parents were with me... Are they okay?"_

_"Your parents... they had fatal injuries caused by the accident. They died the morning after." The nurse tells her._

_Adora feels her mouth go dry._

"Yeah." Adora stares at the coffee table in front of her. "I'm sure."

Adora quickly decides that she's not gonna spend her Friday night off thinking about everything she's ever done wrong, and does something productive. 

She ends up at the apartment complex's gym because exercising, for some odd reason it calms her down.

Catra absolutely _hates_ her job. Retail is probably the worst thing on the planet. Luckily she's not working in the actual stores though. She's not sure what she would do if that were the case. 

She was ready to go home after work today, but her boss asked her to pick up another shift. She thought about saying that she had important plans or something but really all she had t was sit around her apartment. Which wasn't any better than picking up an extra shift so she agreed. The building was closing soon anyway. But now she wishes that she had just lied and went home.

She took a few calls and the last customer service call she got was fucking infuriating. Some dumbass was trying to return an item to one of the stores that was damaged, claiming that it was purchased that way. But with the damage shown, there was literally no way that the item would've still been put out to sell. Therefore, the customer obviously messed up the product somehow, but wants their money back. She's not sure why they would take that to corporate anyway, it's a waste of time.

The customer started call her all sorts of names,and she kept repeating their policy but they just wouldn't listen. And it's not like she could insult them back or hang up, because that would get her in trouble with her boss. And they would more than likely get a bad customer service review.

She ends up giving them one of her co-workers card numbers, telling them to call back tomorrow.

Catra could literally punch a fucking wall right now. She could've been at her apartment taking a nap or something, enjoying her Friday evening but no, she was dealing with some asshole customer. And she had dealt with assholes on the phone _before,_ but this one was _relentless_. But not only is she mad bout that, she's frustrated because this is what her life has come to. 

Letting customers berate her, and doing useless paperwork all day to please her boss. So maybe one day, she'll get a promotion or a raise. 

Catra practically throws her bag down when she enters the apartment, storming past Scorpia and Entrapta and straight into her room. She slams the door behind her, picking random things off of the floor in front of her and chucking them across the room. She guesses Scorpia hears her from the living room because there's light knocking on her bedroom door. 

"Catra? What's wrong?"

"Stupid." She throws a pillow at the window. "Fucking" Another one at the wall. "Retail customers." She kicks her dresser but almost immediately regrets it. 

_"Shit."_ She grabs her foot and sits on the edge of the bed.

Scorpia slowly walks in and sits next to her. She looks around the room, stuff strewn all throughout the room now. "You haven't done this in a while."

Catra trashed her room a lot back in high school, usually after something happened with her mom. "Yeah well, I didn't have it in me. Now I do."

"Don't completely trash it, you're just gonna wish you didn't when you have to clean in here. I tell you what Wildcat, in the gym downstairs, there's a few punching bags with gloves. Try that instead."

"Fine." 

Scorpia begins to leave the room, but turns around before exiting completely. "I'm here if you need anything."

Catra puts on an old T-shirt, yoga pants, and tennis shoes, and then takes the elevator downstairs. The gym has a part glass door and she can see that it's nearly empty by looking through it. Catra heads straight to back, but looks behind her when someone calls out to her.

"Catra?"

Adora steps off of a treadmill. "Oh. Hey Adora."

"I've never seen you here. You live in this complex?"

"Yep. And it's my first time. My roommate, Scorpia, suggested that I should go take a few hits on the punching bag here so I don't destroy our apartment." She says bluntly before continuing to the back.

Adora follows. "You okay?"

"Just had a bad customer to deal with at work today. That's all." 

"Mind if I join you back there?"

Catra sighs. "Go right ahead."

Adora remains silent as Catra punches the punching bag. About ten minutes later, she sits down on the bench. Adora gives it go and they take a few turns.

"So I'm guessing you come down here often?" Catra asks during one of Adora's turns.

"Um, yeah. Most of the time during the evening though. There's less people."

Catra nods. 

Adora takes the gloves off and wipes a few beads of sweat off of her forehead. "You wanna go again?"

Catra feels her stomach grumble. "No. I'm good now."

She sets the boxing gloves in a bin. "You wanna go grab dinner with me?"

"I have nothing else better to do so, sure."

Adora drives her Catra to some burger joint a few minutes away. Neither of them says anything the drive there.

Adora brings their food to where they're sitting. Catra looks at what Adora ordered for herself.

"Did you really order a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake after going to the gym?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I mean, yeah." Adora shoves a fry into her mouth.

"Doesn't that defeat the point?"

"It's not like I do this a lot. Besides the real question is, who orders a _salad_ at a burger joint?" Adora asks.

"Um, someone that just went to the gym..."

"Whatever. Are you going running again tomorrow morning?" Adora dips a fry into her milkshake.

"Probably. You gonna ask me to join you again? Since I'm pretty fast, right?" Catra teases.

"No. You probably couldn't handle going with me." Adora responds, a smug look on her face.

" _Pretty_ sure it's other way around."

Adora shrugs, a smirk still evident on her face. "Guess you'll just have to find out and see."

They talk a lot on the way back to the apartment complex. They sit in Adora's car for a little bit to talk as well.

* * *

Catra gets up early the next morning. She never does that. But she's never been one to back down from a challenge either.

She sees Adora on the sidewalk and she jogs up to her, smiling. Catra taps her on the shoulder. "You ready to be proven wrong?"

Adora turns her head and smiles back. "You showed up. Thought you were gonna be afraid of what I had in store."

"Looks like you were wrong, and you're gonna be wrong again when I finish this faster than you." Before Adora can respond, Catra's running ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! it's honestly really weird to write a catradora story where they haven't known each other for a long time.
> 
> tumblr: yeunslegacy
> 
> twitter: voidlalisa


	4. chapter four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> catra and adora go out for coffee and get to know each other better. oh, and they bond over their crappy corporate jobs!

"Annnnd, looks like I won!" Catra announces after reaching the end of the park trail. "Guess I never lost my super speed huh."

Adora jogs up to meet her and pants. "You're like, ridiculously fast. I've been doing this path for _months._ How did you just- _do that?"_

Catra shrugs. "Running's always been my thing." Catra wipes a bead of sweat off of her forehead and checks the time on her phone. "Hey, you wanna grab a coffee?"

"I'm free. Why not?"

* * *

"So let me get this straight, you knew you'd hate the job, but applied for it anyways to work your way to the top of the company?" Adora asks after taking a sip from her coffee mug.

Catra sighs. "Yeah, and it's going pretty well if you ask me. I'm pretty sure this is like, the longest job I've ever had." 

"Well my job sucks too. I honestly don't even know how I got it. I was unemployed for like a year and a half, and then I applied for a job in this building and I was assigned to be a receptionist, which I literally suck at doing." Adora explains.

"How do you suck at it?"

"Well, I'm not exactly the best at talking to people. I do try my hardest to be nice to clients which is good I guess, but my boss and co-workers say that the fact that I get anxious from talking to random strangers on the phone is 'relatable' and a part of my charm."

Catra cringes. "That's kind of shitty."

"Yeah, and not to mention that most of the time the clients are unreasonably angry. For some reason I always get those clients." Adora rolls her eyes.

"I've only dealt with one of those once, but it was god awful. I don't know how you do it. I would get myself fired."

"Honestly," Adora sighs. "I don't know. But why do you wanna keep working there if everything about it is so bad?"

"Two things Adora. Spite, and guaranteed financial stability."

* * *

Over the next few weeks they talk a lot more. Adora's the last person Catra talks to before she falls asleep, and they'll grab coffee together in the morning. (Which causes Catra to have to wake up a lot earlier, but for once she doesn't mind it.)

On Adora's next day off, Catra is working and she has a great idea. 

Everytime she's around Catra, she complains about work. So she figured she could make her day a little better. 

**Adora to Catra:** hey, what's your fav takeout place?

**Catra:** _is typing..._

**Catra:** the sage mediterranean grill downtown near my work place

**Catra** : why, you wanna go there or smthing

**Adora:** just asking ;)

**Catra:** why the winky face

**Adora:** you'll see ;)

**Catra:** now i really wanna know

**Catra:** tell me

**Adora:** aren't you supposed to be working?

**Catra:** ...yeah but you texted me sooo

**Adora:** byee catra ;)

**Catra:** no waittt

**Catra:** ;(

Adora just smiled at her phone before running to her room to grab a pair of shoes. She threw them own before running back to the kitchen to grab the car keys about of a clay bowl Bow made.

"Woah. woah, woah. Where are _you_ going?" Bow asks, walking out of his room.

"I gotta run a quick errand." Adora tightens her ponytail. "Since you work downtown, do you know where the official Hordak retail company building is?" 

Bow scoffs. "Yeah, you literally can't miss it. There's a huge sign on the building, and it's super tall. Why?"

"I'll explain later."

"Wait, does this have to do with the mystery girl you met on the street and gave your number?" 

Glimmer peeks her head out of her bedroom. "Are we talking about the potential serial killer girl?"

Adora rolls her eyes. "Glimmer can you _please_ get over the whole serial killer thing."

Bow smirks. "So this _does_ have to do with the mystery girl."

Adora ignores the rush of heat towards her face. "Look, I'll tell you guys whatever you want to know when I back. But right now I _need_ to get to that building or my plan's gonna be ruined. I'll see you guys later!"

With that, Adora rushes out of the apartment.

_Catra's gonna love this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so, i never forgot about this story i actually thought about it nearly everyday since i last updated but i had a MAJOR case of writers block. like i had a very clear consensus of the beginning and end of this story but the end wasn't very planned out since i spontaneously came up with idea to write when i was going on a walk with my sister... i should be good now though! and even though i'm back at school now you all can expect regular updates. i'm also sorry that these chapters are short, they should get longer though :)


	5. chapter five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora surprises catra at work, catra reflects on the past few years of her life.

_Catra woke up in her bed, disoriented and confused. She's not even sure how she got back to her dorm._

_Then she looks down at floor and sees Scorpia, curled up in a ball._

_Oh. She thought._

_Catra carefully swung her legs over her bed so she didn't step on Scorpia._

_She trudged into the bathroom and stared herself down in the mirror. Several dark circles surrounded her eyes, her hair was a mess, not to mention her terrible headache She looked like a ghost. She blinked a couple of times before attempting- and failing-to run her hand through her hair. Her hair was horribly tangled so she just groaned and tossed a few stray pieces over her shoulder._

_Catra turned the cold faucet knob and ran her hands under it for a couple seconds. Then she rubbed the remnants of the water onto her face._

_She exited the bathroom, finding Scorpia awake again._

_"I see you're finally up." Scorpia says as Catra re enters the room._

_Catra doesn't respond for a moment. "Did you bring me back last night?"  
_

_"Yeah..."_

_A 'thank you' is on the tip of Catra's tongue before Scorpia continues._

_"Wildcat, I love you, but you gotta stop doing that to yourself." Scorpia has a sympathetic look on her face. Catra has no idea what she's talking about._

_She lets out a small raspy laugh. "What? Partying?"_

_"You know what I mean."_

_Catra rubs her eye with the back of her hand. "I actually don't. So, enlighten me."_

_"Going to these frat parties-which I know that you don't even really like-and getting drunk, doing all sorts of dangerous activities, all while no one's there with you." Scorpia pauses. "I'm worried about you."_

_Catra scowls. "There's nothing to be worried about. You're just against me having fun. Just like my mom."_

_Scorpia sighs. "Catra, we both know that you're not really having fun. And there's plenty for me to be worried about! You drink excessively at these frat parties, and you smoke- which is not only bad for your lungs, but isn't good to mix with alcohol-and the party I picked you up from last night?I found you passed out on the front porch! And you don't even remember do you."_

_Catra avoids Scopia's gaze. "I would've been fine. And I'm an adult, I can do what I want."_

_"I know, but if you continue down this road-"_

_Catra interrupted her. "If I continue down this road what?" She fights the urge to ball up her fist. "What? Are you gonna leave me or something? That statement isn't as threatening as you want it to be y'know. I'm used to it. If you don't want anything to do with me, go ahead. Go. I don't care."_

_Scorpia approaches her. "Catra-"_

_"GO!" Catra screams, tears pricked her eyes._

_She doesn't look at Scorpia as she leaves._

_She knocks everything off of the desk in front her almost immediately after her dorm door shuts. Catra kicks the desk leg, tears falling uncontrollably now. She collapses into the mess on the floor, lying against the desk leg._

_A few minutes later, after she's calmed down, Catra wipes the corners of her eyes. Ignoring the dried tears on her face. She sees a pair of scissors on the floor a few feet in front of her. Catra picks up the scissors before walking back into the bathroom._

Catra groans. Adora still hadn't responded, and it felt like her lunch break was taking forever to start. 

She stares blankly at the utterly useless paperwork on her desk. Catra bets that if she didn't do the work and turn it in, no one would notice. That's how pointless it is.

About ten minutes later, right before her lunch break starts, she gets a call from the front desk. 

"Catra, there's a visitor here for you."

_Really?_

"Okay. Send them up." It's not like she had anything else better to do.

A few moments later there's a knock on her office door. She opens the door to find Adora, smiling with a takeout bag of mediterranean food in her hand.

"Happy lunch break!" Catra opens the door for Adora to step in. She hands Catra the takeout bag.

"So _that's_ why you asked me about takeout."

"Yeah. Can I sit?" Adora asks. Catra points to the small sofa in front of her desk.

She sits back down in her desk chair. "How did they even let you up here? Don't you have to prove that an employee knows you're visiting and all of that stuff?"

Adora shakes her head. "Nope. The man at the front said that I look trustworthy so he let me up."

"Seriously? What if you were an intruder or something? I swear, Kyle has like... half of a brain cell."

Adora stays quiet for second before replying. "Do I look intimidating to you?" Adora frowns and scrunches up her eyebrows.

Catra snorts. "No, you look like your average dumb blonde. But with bigger muscles."

"Ohhh. I see you've taken a notice to my muscles. Like what you see?" Adora jokes.

Catra's face gets hot and she rolls her eyes. "Shut up."

She finally opens up the takeout bag and gasps. "Oh my god, how did you know _exactly_ what to get me?"

"Well, being the food genius I am, I figured that you'd probably manage to get the most boring thing off of the menu." Adora shrugs.

"You know what? _I_ am gonna pretend like you didn't just say that last part, but thank you." Catra smiles softly.

"No problem."

Catra takes a huge bite out of her food. "This is so fucking good. And I like, fucking love you."

Adora giggles, and so does Catra after she swallows her food.

* * *

"Hey guys, I'm home." Catra sets her bag and keys on the counter.

"Hey Wildcat! How was your day? Anymore bad work day stories you wanna share?" Scorpia asks.

"Yeah, I really like those stories. I record them some of the, into my data." Entrapta adds.

"What data?" Catra asks, confused.

"Oh! My human interaction data of course! Very interesting set of information if you ask me." She continues.

"Anyways, my day was pretty good. No bad or annoying work stories surprisingly."

Scorpia turns to look at her as she enters the kitchen. "No complaints either? Or bad clients?"

Catra jumps up onto the top counter. "Nope."

"Where's Catra and what have you done with her?"

Catra rolls her eyes. "Adora bought me lunch today. It was from my favorite takeout place too."

Scorpia nods. "I see. So that's why you're such a good mood. I knew that you should text her. And now look, you have a good friend that's willing to bring you lunch on your break. She's a keeper."

"Yeah. It's pretty weird how well that worked out. With my luck, I wouldn't be surprised of she was a fucking stalker or something. And now these past few weeks have been surprisingly good."

Scorpia walks over to the counter and picks Catra up off of it. "Aw, look at that. My little Wildcat, letting herself be happy. I'm tearing up!" Scorpia pulls her into a hug and Catra lets her, knowing that she wouldn't let go anyway.

"Ooh! I have an explanation for this!" Entrapta yells.

Scorpia places Catra back down. "Explanation for what?" Catra asks.

"How you've had a good past few weeks, despite the fact that you've constantly said in the past that you believe the universe is working against you. Although the universe working against you is impossible, because the universe can't actively work against someone. Things just happen to happen. But, according to the Seventeenth Law of the Universe, also known as-"

Catra cuts her off. "Nope. I don't need an explanation. I'm just gonna leave it be. Let the universe do it's thing, I'm on a roll."

"But-"

Catra walks toward the direction of her bedroom. "Sorry Trapta. I'm not jinxing it."

"But it states that-"

"Not jinxing it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! leave comments for feedback, it really does help me write lmao. next chapter will be adora centric. and i'm planning on having this story be about 10-12 chapters i think.


	6. chapter six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora talks about catra with glimmer and bow, and relives a bit of trauma through one of catra's actions.

Adora slowly unlocks her apartment door to find Glimmer and Bow sitting at their dinner table, staring at her intently.

"You guys look like parents when their would come home after getting in trouble at school."

"Thanks, that's exactly what we were going for!" Bow says. "Now sit."

Adora pulls a chair out from under the table and slowly sits down. 

"So who's the mystery girl?" Glimmer immediately asks.

"Glimmer!" Bow whisper shouts. "We're supposed to ease into this! Not force information out of her!" Bow looks back at at Adora and clears his throat. "So, what's her name?"

"Catra."

"That's a stupid name."

"Glimmer!"

"I mean... very interesting name. What's she like?"

Adora rolls her eyes. "Can you guys stop being so weird? We aren't dating or anything."

Bow sighs. "Well, you kinda spend all of your days off with her now, and you literally went to visit her at work today."

Glimmer nods in agreement and Bow continues on.

"But this is the happiest we've seen you in a _long_ time. So we wanna hear you talk about her. She's gotta be pretty cool if you talk to her everyday."

"Well, she is. She's got this _'I don't give a shit'_ kind of attitude but it's surprisingly endearing. And I went running with her a few times after we first met, and she's super fast. She's really funny and it's like she _gets_ me somehow y'know?" Adora explains.

"That's good. When do we get to meet her?" Glimmer asks.

"Um-", Adora starts to answer before she's interrupted by her phone ringing. "That's her! I'll be right back, I promise." Adora rushes to her room and answers the call. "Hi." She says breathy voice.

"Hey, so I was thinking we could do something after my shift tomorrow? I don't really wanna sit in my apartment and watch soap operas again so yeah." Catra says.

Adora laughs. "I didn't peg you as a soap opera kind of person."

Catra sighs. "I'm not _but_ , I am a person with shitty cable. Oh come on!" Catra yells.

Adora bites her lip. "What's wrong?"

"Some complete asshole just ran a red light almost hitting me as I stopped my car. Why doesn't anyone here know how to drive?"

Adora freezes. "Wait, you're driving right now? I thought you were back at your apartment already."

"I was but Entrapta ruined our stove somehow? And I accidentally fucked up the microwave a couple months ago and we never got it fixed, so I'm picking up a takeout order for Scorpia and Entrapta's dinner right now."

Adora almost completely disregards Catra's previous statement and hangs up the phone.

Her hands are trembling and she almost immediately thinks about her parents. How she's the one that called them to pick her up from that house party. And how if she didn't make the call they wouldn't have drove that way, the accident would've never happened, and they'd still be alive. 

She can't do that again. Not when things were finally looking up after a pretty bleak couple of years. 

Catra had almost gotten hit when she was on the phone with her. And Adora doesn't know what she would've done if did, in fact get hit. 

Being responsible for the deaths-or near deaths- of _three_ people? She'd crack. 

After her parents died, Adora didn't drive for months. She got night terrors of the accident almost every night for a month, and she couldn't talk to people on the phone. 

Pretty ironic how she's a receptionist now huh.

Adora leaves her room in a trance like state and sits on the sofa. She rubs both hands over her ponytail.

"Woah what's up with you? You look like you just saw a ghost." Bow asks, sitting down on the couch right next to her.

"The Catra girl said something didn't she? I knew she was bad from the beginning. Plus, she's named after a cat. Never trust cats, or anything that has to do with them." Glimmer adds from the kitchen.

Adora sighs. "No she didn't do anything. But I did."

"What?" Bow looks at her questioningly. 

"She almost got hit by a car, while she was on the phone with _me_."

Bow gives her a sympathetic look."Catra called you, and she's okay Adora. Don't get worked up over this, okay?"

"I can't just _not_ get worked up over this. Not after my parents. And trust me, I want the crushing weight of all of these things off of my back. It's been years but, I don't think the feeling is ever gonna go away. You guys wouldn't understand." Adora frowns.

Glimmer walks over with two plates of food in her hands and sets them down on the coffee table in front of them. "I think I all of people would understand." She sits down next to Bow. "My dad was killed. Remember that?"

"Sorry. But you were just a kid when that happened. There's nothing you could've done."

Glimmer raises an eyebrow. "And you were just a teenager that wanted to leave a crappy house party, Adora. It's not your fault. You aren't the drunk driver that hit your parents car."

Bow smiles softly. "Yeah. And we'll both keep telling you that for the next few years if that's what it takes."

Adora manages to return the smile. "Thanks you guys."

"Now come on. There's a Disney movie marathon on TV tonight that's practically screaming at us to watch." Bow says and reclines his seat on the couch.

Adora laughs and lets the words ' _it's not my fault_ ' play on repeat in her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! feedback is appreciated <33 and sorry that this is kind of short :/


	7. chapter seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora tells catra about her parents and they have a movie night.

Catra finds herself at Adora's apartment door with a cheeseburger, french fries, and a milkshake in hand, after work. 

Adora hadn't talked to her since she hung up the phone yesterday evening and she was wondering what happened. Part of her mind is telling her that she's being dramatic and that Adora's just busy, while the other is telling her that Adora was upset over something. 

Catra sighs before knocking on the door. She hears a few muffled voices and a voice near the door talking about takeout before someone answers.

A short young woman with short hair as well answers the door and groans. "Who are you?"

"Uh, I'm Catra. One of Adora's friends. Is she here?" Catra asks.

The woman squints. "Hold on." She slams the door shut and Catra nearly jumps back.

A few moments and whisper shouts later, the woman opens the door again and smiles. "She's coming. I'm Glimmer by the way."

Catra nods and smiles a little back. She taps her foot as she waits in the doorway. She hears a loud thump with a faint sentence of curse words following.

_That's probably her._

Adora opens the door back up completely, panting, but smiling at the same time. "Hey! Sorry it took me a while to get to the door there. I tripped."

Catra laughs. "I could tell." She raises her arms, showing Adora the food she brought. "I got your favorite. Can I come in?"

Adora nods. "Yeah." 

Catra walks in and Adora takes the food out of her hands. She shoves her hands in her pockets and exhales. "So, about yesterday-"

"I'm so sorry about that! You were in the car and I freaked out because..." Adora trails off.

Catra looks at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

Adora gulps. "My parents, they both died in a car accident. And it sounds stupid but it reminded me of them even though that wasn't the cause of the crash. Plus driving while you're on a phone call is very dangerous! Maybe not as dangerous as texting and driving, but still pretty bad. I am just a firm supporter of safety behind the wheel!" Adora laughs nervously, avoiding eye contact with Catra. "And now I'm rambling. Great."

"I'm sorry about your parents. And I'm sorry about calling you while I was in the car. I'll try to think about your little 'safety behind the wheel' speech more often. Okay?" 

Adora looks back at Catra and sees a small reassuring smile on her face. There's no trace of her being upset with her antics, or any sign of anger for Adora not telling her sooner. Adora smiles back. "Okay." 

"So...I have the night off. Any particular movie suggestions?"

* * *

"That wasn't even that scary you're being overly dramatic." Catra says, placing another piece of popcorn in her mouth.

They're both curled up on Adora's bed with her laptop in front of them. Adora's shielding her eyes as the movie credits play.

"Are you kidding me? That was _horrifying_. It didn't help that everyone was nearly silent the entire time either." 

"Well the movie is literally named _A Quiet Place,_ Adora."

Adora huffs. "Whatever. And I don't care what you say, it was scary."

Catra picks her phone up from beside her and checks the time. "It's still pretty early and I go in later for work tomorrow. Wanna watch another movie?"

Adora smiles. "Only if I get to pick this time."

Catra raises an eyebrow. "You picked the last movie."

"Yeah, but that was a mistake on my part because, I chose it thinking you'd get scared and I thought it would be kind of funny, but then it just ended up scaring me." 

"Knock yourself out."

They end up watching The Princess Bride and Adora recites most of the lines word for word. Catra pretends to be annoyed but secretly enjoys it.

The movie ends and Catra decides to head back to her apartment.

"Do you want me to walk you back?" Adora offers. 

"I'm literally on the floor above you. Pretty sure I can walk myself back." 

"Right. Sorry." Adora apologizes.

"S'fine. But it _is_ nice to know that you want to spend all of this time with me." Catra smirks.

"Pfft. I was doing that for safety reasons. Not because I wanted to talk to you more."

"Yeah. _Whatever..._ I'll talk to you later Adora." Catra smiles softly and begins to walk down the hallway.

Adora watches her until she turns to get on the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> clearly i am incapable of writing long chapters for this story...thank you for reading! feedback is appreciated because i enjoy reading everyone's comments <3


	8. chapter eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adora and catra plan a short getaway together, catra confronts past traumatic events on their trip.

Catra's week has been going pretty well so far. A few weeks have passed by and she’s continued running with Adora on the weekends and they text each other every morning and call each other every night.

She’s had a few crappy work experiences in the past few weeks as well as Adora but they’ve been working through them together.  
___________________________________

Adora slurps her milkshake in the passenger seat of Catra’s car as Catra vents about her workday. “Oh! Have you tried meditating? My friend Perfuma that Glimmer and Bow work with says it really helps.”

Catra thinks for a moment and then turns to look at Adora. “You know what? Let’s try it.”

They pull over into an open space and pop open the car trunk. They both sit with their shoulders and knees touching with their legs crossed and eyes closed.

Adora nudges Catra’s shoulder with her own. “Psst. Is it working?”

“I don’t know. Do you feel anything happening?”

“Not really.”

Catra opens her eyes. “Fuck this. I have a better idea.”

Adora climbs out of the trunk and gets back into the passenger’s seat. “Uh, what exactly is your idea?”

Catra takes her phone out of the arm rest’s compartment and plugs it into an auxiliary cord. “So, in high school whenever I would deal with my raging anger or whatever, I’d blast songs in my room and scream the lyrics. Most of the time it was when my mom wasn’t home but it still felt nice. You should do it too.” She types in a song on Spotify and turns the volume up nearly to the max.

The opening of Gives you Hell by the All American Rejects begins to play and Adora shakes her head. “You go right ahead, I sound like a dying reptile when I sing.”

“Oh come on Adora, it’s supposed to be fun. Who cares what you sound like, the point is to scream the lyrics as loud as you can.” Catra clears her throat before continuing. “I wake up every evening, with a big smile on my face. And it never feels out of place.”

Adora looks at her expectantly. “I thought you were supposed to be screaming.”

“Not until the second chorus. Obviously.” She scoffs.

Adora sighs. “And you’re still probably working, at a nine to five pace. I wonder how bad that tastes?”

“See? I knew you could do it.”

They turn to face each other complete the first chorus together. “When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell! When you walk my way, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell!”

When they finish the song they’re both panting from not only screaming, but from dancing in the seats of the car.

Adora wipes a few flyaways back into her ponytail. “You were actually right. That felt kinda good.”

  
____________________________________

Catra’s over at Adora’s apartment after their run. She’s sitting on Adora’s couch only partly listening to what’s playing on TV.  
“Hey,” she shifts her body to face Adora. “You have any days off soon?”

It’s early April, and one of only things Catra misses about school is how there had to be a mandatory week long break built in before exams.

“Yeah, I get a short three day long break. Why?”

“We should like, take a mini vacation. We can go downtown and stay in a hotel for the weekend and the few days we have off. You in?”

Even if Adora wanted to say no, she wouldn’t be able to. The smile that was slowly appearing on Catra’s face was enough convincing for her.

“I have nothing else better to do... I’m in.”

“You two are going on a trip together? Aw, that’s so cute!” Bow squeals after Adora tell him about her plans.

Glimmer gives her a look before proceeding with putting something in the microwave.

Adora rolls her eyes. “What?”

Glimmer hums. “Nothing. You two are just so grossly into each other and you’re both too stupid to realize it yet.”

“Bow?” Adora looks to Bow, her eyes asking him to help defend her.

“I mean... she’s not wrong.”

Adora groans and Glimmer smiles.

“But I’m so happy for you! You haven’t been this happy in a while. When you get back we want to know everything.”

Adora smiles softly. “Okay.”

____________________________________

The day Catra and Adora leave for their trip finally rolls around and Adora’s freaking out.

“What if I manage to screw everything up? Maybe I should just say I’m sick and not go. Does that sound believable?”

Bow places his hands on her shoulders. “Adora, there is literally nothing to worry about. Let yourself have fun for once! You’ve been so excited for this over the past week. It’s literally all you talked about.”

“Maybe you’re right.” She sighs. “Okay. I got this. It’s a vacation, and vacations are fun and relaxing.”

Adora brings a relatively small bag with a few outfits and necessities out to Catra’s car in the parking lot.

She opens the passenger door and looks at Catra, who has a pair of black sunglasses perched on her head.

“Hey Adora. You ready?”

Adora sighs. “Yeah.”

They ride in mostly a comfortable silence, Catra softly singing along to whatever played on the radio sometimes.

Adora simply stares out the window, her mind drifting off to any topic under the moon. She thinks about her parents, work, but mostly how natural everything felt. She’d known Catra for a few months at the most, yet sometimes it felt like forever. Sure she was a little worried about how their road trip would turn out but that was pretty much it. She feels at ease. Like she could just sit in silence with the company of Catra’s soft singing voice for the rest of her life and feel content. She smiles to herself and then at Catra, who sees her out of the corner of her eye and returns the look for a short moment to smile back.

  
“Can I play something?” Adora asks, gesturing to Catra’s aux cord.

“Sure. Just make sure it’s nothing that’ll cause my ears to bleed out while I’m driving.”

Adora playfully rolls her eyes and shakes her head before plugging her phone in. She turns the volume up and Catra laughs at the song choice.

“What?”

Catra adjusts the mirror and Adora sees her grin that takes up her entire face. “I don’t know that’s just so... you.”

“Am I really that predictable?”

Catra pauses for a moment. “Maybe, but it’s endearing.”

Adora smiles. “Aw, thank you.”

“And you’re lucky it’s you in my car and not someone else, or they’d lose the privilege to play music in my car forever.”

“Do you really hate Taylor Swift that much? Jeez I don’t think we can be friends anymore.”

Catra chuckles. “Don’t worry, I’ll suffer through your terrible music taste so our friendship will last.”

Adora has to stop herself from smiling super hard for a little while.

  
They arrive two hours later and Adora doesn’t even remember falling asleep.

  
Catra lightly taps her in the shoulder. “Hey, Adora, we’re here.”

“Huh?” She rubs her eyes slowing adjusting to her surroundings, remembering that she’s in Catra’s car. “Oh.”

Catra smirks. “You got a little something right... here.” She moves her finger in a circular motion towards the side of her mouth.

Adora could feel her face heating up. She mutters a quick “thanks” before wiping the side of her mouth and getting out of Catra’s car.

Catra hands Adora her bag and grabs her own out of the trunk. “You hungry?”

Adora’s stomach grumbles at the thought of food. “I could eat.”

  
____________________________________

Both of them walk along a string of shops and small cafes and restaurants looking around.

“Okay I personally think I should get to choose where we eat since you have flawed tastebuds.” Adora says.

“I don’t have flawed tastebuds. I just don’t eat anything in sight like you.”

“It’s called being flexible”, Adora shoves her playfully with her shoulder.

“It’s called being a weirdo”, Catra mocks her tone and shoves her back.

Adora gasps lightly. “Look, a pizza place. Perfect.” She absentmindedly grabs Catra’s hand and drags her across the street.

  
“Ok so I’m gonna order a pizza for the both of us, but you have to cover your ears while I’m ordering so it’ll be a surprise.” Adora tells her as they’re seated.

“Fine, but if it’s a bad pizza you’re paying.”

  
“Hawaiian pizza? Really, Adora?”

Adora grins sheepishly. “Come on, at least try it. If you don’t like it I’ll pay.”

Catra groans but hesitantly picks up a slice of pizza. She looks at the pizza and then back at Adora before shutting her eye and taking the tiniest bite possible.  
  
“How was it?” Catra slowly opens her eyes again.

“It wasn’t the worst... I guess.”

Adora giggles. “See? Who’s the weirdo now.”

“It’s still you, Adora.”

  
After they finish eating Adora finds a frozen yogurt shop on the shop’s directory and they end up running across the outdoor mall to get there before it closes.

  
Catra got a simple cup of vanilla flavored yogurt with a few fruit toppings, while Adora got several different flavors with a slew of topping. Adora’s yogurt is also dripping down the sides of the cup.

“You know, I keep wondering how your stomach hasn’t like, collapsed in on itself.” Catra says, staring at the cup of yogurt that Adora is currently licking the sides of.

“What can I say? I have a strong immune system.”

Strings of lights cover the poles on the sidewalks and they light up the streets since it’s darker outside now.

Adora pushes a few stray hairs back into her ponytail. “Thanks for today.”

Catra meets Adora’s eyes for a moment. “You don’t have to thank me. I mean, you payed for the pizza.”

Adora sighs. “Not for the pizza. For this vacation or whatever. Ever since my parents passed I didn’t really let myself have any fun. I’d go to work and stay in my apartment on my days off. The only time I’d really leave was to get food or go to the gym downstairs. And a lot of the people I’m around, except for Glimmer and Bow of course, just gave up on trying to even just talk to me.” Adora plants her forehead in her free palm. “I don’t know if that makes like any sense at all but thanks for not being totally weirded out when I abruptly hung up on you, or when I worry about literally everything I guess.”

Catra looks at ground and kicks a pebble to avoid eye contact with her. Being vulnerable was the last thing she wanted to do right now but she feels it’s only fair since Adora was willing. “I totally get it. I don’t do much either. I had a rough relationship with my mom and maybe I shouldn’t complain since your parents are literally dead but my mom might as well be. Something bad happened right after I graduated and I guess it just... stuck with me? I don’t know. But I tried to party and go out when I first enrolled in school, thinking it’d eventually go away. But it got worse and worse so I dropped out. I wasn’t as self-destructive afterwards but I was basically in a constant apathetic state. So I get it. And, you’re welcome.”

Their free hands brush each other’s a few times as they walk. Adora takes Catra’s in here and intertwines them. Catra does the same.

“I was actually supposed to go to law school after I graduated. But after my parents passed I couldn’t follow through. You don’t give yourself enough credit y’know.” Adora adds as they continue down the sidewalk.

Catra shrugs. “Maybe. You ready to head back to the hotel?”

Adora yawns. “Yeah.”

____________________________________

As they’re walking to the front of the hotel building Catra stops to look at a car that’s parked right in the front.

“You coming?”

Catra pauses before responding. She’d notice that license plate anywhere. It picked her from after school detention time after time. Her eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took almost a month to come out lmao. but thank you for reading! I'm working on a one shot while i'm writing this and then i'm more than likely going to start another multi chapter au. feedback is appreciated <33
> 
> talk to me on tumblr: catrasbastard  
> twitter: catrazulas


	9. chapter nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> catra makes a decision that throws her and Adora’s trip off of it’s course. (aka get catra therapy immediately)

It was her mom’s car. Catra hadn’t heard from her since she graduated high school. 

She went home after she graduated and there was no trace of her mother anywhere. 

She wasn’t the best mother to have sure, but she was still Catra’s. And for her to just leave without warning... it was a rough semester to say the least. 

Catra has imagined this scenario a few times. She’d see the woman in public and punch her, or she’d vandalize her new house maybe. 

Most of the scenarios were violent or basically revenge fantasies but over time the anger faded into sadness. The scenarios turned into confrontations where Catra would just ask why she’d left and why she was treated so badly growing up in a small childlike voice. 

Now, she was angry again. It was a dull feeling of anger though. One that if she tried to speak in full sentences her chest would start heaving and she’d break out into sobs.

But it would be the perfect time to get her revenge. 

____________________________

Catra takes a black sweatshirt and a pair of black pants out of her bag. She let out a shaky sigh as she put the outfit on quietly slipped out the door, carefully to not wake Adora.

There’s a baseball bat in her trunk that’s she’s kept there practically forever. Catra’s tempted to just take the bat and smash her old guardian’s car to pieces and not care about the consequences she’d face, but knows she’ll regret it in the long run.

So she drives to a nearly abandoned gas station that’s not too far away and parks her car to avoid the hotel parking lot’s security cameras. She can feel her hands trembling as she picks up the bat but she ignores it as she walks back to the hotel. 

She lifts her hoodie up to cover up as much of her face as possible. Then she makes her way to the car. 

Distant memories play like a slideshow through Catra’s head. She remembers the woman lecturing her and telling her how she’d never be anything in life after getting in trouble at school or her report card not being perfect. Or how her heart rate would speed up when she would be out with friends and a smiling car like the one she drove passed by. And when she went home that one day and the car wasn’t there. Neither were any of her belongings and it was like she was never there despite the bad memories that played like a record in Catra’s head as she slept every night. 

Both of hands shake as she lifts the bat and slams it down on the hood of her car.

Catra grips the bat tighter and slams it down harder as she recalls everything her so called mother put her through. The degrading and lies, and the touching... it was never gentle. It was always rough and harsh. She would grab her throw her around like she wasn’t even a person. 

She grips the bat even tighter to the point where her knuckles burn and tears sting her eyes as she remembers how kind her mother was to everyone else. 

The car’s hood and side doors are severely dented when she’s  
finished.

Catra lowers the bat and takes one last look at her mother’s old car before turning away. She drags the bat against the sidewalk and barely picks her feet up off of the ground. 

When she arrives back to her car she tosses the bat in the trunk before running both of her hands through her hair. 

She just committed a crime. Catra’s eyes widened at her sudden full realization of what she’d done. 

She quickly takes off the black hoodie and shoes and tosses them next to the baseball bat. Then she starts her car and grabs ahold of the steering wheel with shaky hands. 

Catra parks as far away from the car as possible. She reenters the hotel through a side door and rushes to her and Adora’s shared room. 

Catra tries to slip in unnoticed but Adora’s sitting at the foot of her bed and immediately looks up as the door opens. 

“Catra? Where’d you go? You just left and-“ Catra stops her by walking over clamping her hand over Adora’s mouth. 

She takes Adora’s hand and pulls her into the bathroom. She sits down in the half bathtub half shower near the faucet and Adora sits in front of her. Catra closes the curtain.

“What was that? Where were you and why’d you just leave in the middle of the night without saying anything?” Adora asks.

Catra pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them. “My mom...she’s here. I saw her car earlier. I thought I moved on from what happened and when she left but, I guess knowing she was here and this close to me for the first time in years just set something off.”  
Catra cringed at the thought of Adora knowing all of this.

“When she left?”

“Yeah. After I graduated she just left...she was gone when I got home and it was like she was never even there.” 

“I’m sorry.” Adora pauses before clearing her throat. “So what did you do?”

Catra looks down to avoid making eye contact with her. “I smashed her car in with a bat.” 

All drowsiness left Adora’s face. “I’m sorry, what?”

Catra sighs and ticks her hair behind her ear. “There’s a baseball bat in the back of my trunk-“

“Why on earth do you keep a baseball bat in the back of your trunk?” 

“I don’t know! But I may have took it and used it to bash the hood and sides of her car.”

Adora stares at her blankly.

“And by maybe I mean I yes”, Catra’s voice cracks.

Adora simply stares at her not knowing how to react. 

Catra’s eyes start to water before she breaks out into sobs that she’s been holding in ever since she saw the car up close. “I’m so fucking stupid. All I do is mess everything up somehow. I usually hold everything about me that’s screwed up over my mom’s head but maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’ve been the problem all along.”

Adora pulls her into a hug and rubs her back. “Hey, we all make mistakes but she had no right to do what she did to you. Okay?”

Catra sniffles. “Maybe but I dragged you into this. This was supposed to be a fun trip and now I’m gonna get arrested and my future’s gonna be ruined and-“

“It won’t be. Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out together. Let’s just...go back to sleep and we’ll check out early in the morning. Then we’ll figure out where to go from there.”

“You promise we’ll do it together?” Catra asks, her voice muffled from her mouth being pressed into Adora’s broad shoulder.

“I promise.” 

Adora’s sure she’s in over her head but she does want to support Catra. Though she doesn’t want to do that by being seen as an accomplice to anything or by withholding information from what could possibly be the police. But she could figure that out also in the morning she supposed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! sorry it’s been forever. I’m a huge procrastinator plus I’ve been packing up my house. But I have 2 more multi chapters in mind so look out for those soon!
> 
> please come yell at me abt she-ra  
> tumblr: catrasbastard  
> twitter: catrazulas


	10. chapter ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> catra stresses out over her decision as adora makes an unexpected one.

_Catra hadn’t talked to Scorpia in weeks. Scorpia hadn’t messaged her either._

_Entrapta would text her links to random YouTube videos and long paragraphs detailing her experiences once in a while but that was it._

_She’d never admit it, but she misses their company._

_She tried to attend another party but it just didn’t feel right. All of the people gathered in their little groups laughing and talking just reminded her of how lonely she truly was._

_Now she’s walking back to her dorm in the middle of the night, alone._

_Catra hardly drank anything and didn’t drink the night before either. Yet she felt worse than the hangover you’d get the morning after a blackout._

_She covered her eyes as blinding car lights make their way closer and closer to her line of sight. The car begins to come to a stop and Catra expects it to be some frat guy asking if she needs a ride so she gets ready to say no and if they don’t accept that then “fuck off”._

_The car came to a complete stop and the person on the passenger side rolls down their window._

_“Hi Catra! It’s been a while, did you do something new to your hair?” Entrapta said with way too much enthusiasm in her voice for it to be nearly two am._

_Her hair stops right above her shoulders now when it previously flowed down her back and near her waist. Catra impulsively cut it the day she last spoke to Scorpia._

_She clears her throat. “Yeah I cut it a few weeks ago.” Catra made eye contact with a blonde woman in the driver’s seat._

_“Hello Catra, I’m Perfuma!”_

_Catra simply waved in response._

_Perfuma gasped. “How rude of me not to ask! Do you need a ride back to your dorm? It’s awfully dark out and it’s probably not very safe to walk back alone. Entrapta and I are headed that way anyway so it wouldn’t be a problem.”_

_“That would be nice, thanks.” Catra opens the back door and slid into the seat behind Entrapta and ignored the lingering smell of weed._

_“What are you guys doing out this late anyway?”_

_“I had a vision for a new experiment and I needed a few extra tools to get it started. I would’ve driven myself there but my car’s in the shop.” Entrapta chirped._

_“And you needed to do all of this in the middle of night?” Catra massaged her temple with both of her hands. This headache was going to kill her._

_“Yep! A true scientist never sleeps.”_

_Catra stayed silent for a few moments. “Have you been talking to Scorpia lately?”_

_“Yeah! She told me you guys weren’t talking though. And she looks sad every time someone mentions your name. Are you guys okay?” Entrapta asked._

_Catra doesn’t answer._

_“You should talk to her. And you...you can talk to me too because we’re friends and that’s what friends do.”_

_Perfuma pulled up to her dorm building._

_“Thanks Entrapta, have a good night.”_

_“You too, Catra.”_

______________________________________

Catra barely slept through the night. Adora said she could sleep with her in her bed across from her own but it hardly helped.

It probably didn’t help that she felt fucking terrible. She finds out her mother is in the same vicinity as she is and her first decision is to bash her car in with a baseball bat in the middle of the night.

Adora should’ve packed up her things and taken the next bus home. She doesn’t deserve to be pulled into Catra’s mess.

Before she knew it the sun started to peek through the windows and Adora slowly woke up shortly after. 

“You sleep okay after all of that?” Adora asks after she lets out a yawn.

“Yeah.” Catra lies. She didn’t sleep any longer than an hour in total. She would finally fall asleep just to wake up anxiety ridden a few minutes later and she’d just given up on sleeping at all after it happened the fifth time. 

Adora sits up completely and grabs her phone off of the nightstand. “I was thinking we could look at other hotels in the area and then figure out an early checkout time that works to get out of here. Sound good?” 

She still doesn’t understand how Adora’s calm about all of this. Maybe it’s because she’s not the one that actually smashed someone’s car but still. “Yeah, sounds good.”

They’re check out time is set to noon so Catra and Adora get dressed and gather their belongings. 

Catra lets Adora shower first so she’ll have more time to contemplate her own existence while either tears or hot water blur her vision.

____________________________________

Catra drives them both to the new hotel. It’s quiet and there’s no easy flow of conversation like the day before but Catra’s not surprised. Doing something illegal might throw off a vacation’s overall mood.

Adora’s on the hunt for something in Walmart while Catra’s alone in her car. Adora said it wouldn’t take her long. 

She’s back in about ten minutes.

“What’d you get?”

Adora smiles. “It’s a surprise, you’ll see.”

Maybe she didn’t totally ruin the mood.

“Well when exactly do I get to see this surprise?”

“When we get settled in our room. Then I’ll explain.”

  
Catra tosses her duffel bag on one of the beds. “Now can you explain?”

“You literally have the patience of a child, Catra. Anyways,” Adora pours the contents of the plastic bag onto her bed. 

“You bought...paint?”

“Yeah! Glimmer, Bow, and I would use this and paint each other’s backs a lot during the spring and summer. It always turned out really pretty even if I’m not really an artist. Glimmer even had an Instagram account for it at one point.”

“Sure, I’d love to paint you like one of your french girls”, Catra smirks.

Adora’s eyes widen. “You know that’s not what I meant. And you’re not even painting me or using a canvas for that matter.” Adora huffs.

Catra chuckles. “Anyways, I’ll do you first.”

Adora immediately smirks back at her and Catra backtracks.

“You know that’s not what I meant!” She scowls. 

Adora chose a white horse for Catra to paint and Catra has to refrain herself from making jokes about Adora being a horse girl. 

The room is quiet again as the cold palm of Catra’s hand lies flat on the middle of Adora’s back with the tips of her nails lightly pressing into it as well. 

Adora shivers as a paintbrush slowly makes its way down her back. You could say she’s glad that most of her face is buried in a pillow. 

It’s oddly intimate when it shouldn’t be and Catra knows that. But it doesn’t stop her hand from shaking as she brings the brush back down for another stroke. 

Catra adds a final touch before setting the brush down. “Done.”

Adora sighs as Catra scoots back from her squatting position over Adora’s thighs in order to get a good picture of her work. 

She hands the phone to Adora and she gasps. “It’s amazing...”

“I’ll never understand your obsession with horses.”

Adora rolls her eyes. “Your turn!”

  
____________________________________

The next few days are filled with trips to the hotel’s pool, visiting shops downtown, going to museums, and eating at random restaurants Adora finds on yelp. Catra even forgets about the car. 

Or at least until they’re back at her apartment and there’s a knock on the door.

“Brightmoon Police Department, we’re looking for Catrina Weaver?”

Catra gulps. “That’s me.” She steps aside to let the officers inside.

The officers explain the situation to everyone in her apartment-as they’re all in the same room- and Catra’s nails dig into the chair she’s sitting in.

She makes eye contact with Adora who gives her a sympathetic look. 

Catra almost pulls a chunk of leather off of the seat as Adora speaks.

“It was me. I destroyed Mrs. Weaver’s car.”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it’s nearly 2 months lmao. i kinda took a break after writing my winter exchange fics but i forced myself to pump this chapter out in a day bc I refused to let this fic go two months without updating. anyways, i hope you all enjoyed! feedback is always appreciated <3
> 
> tumblr: catrasbastard   
> twitter: catrazulas


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